What's your favourite coaching quote?

We have our England U18 assessment camp coming up this weekend and whilst doing some of the preparation for it I came across a few quotes I've used before or that have inspired me ... thought it would be worth sharing and seeing what other ones people like!

Plenty to chose from John Wooden but I do really like this one and links nicely to our assessment aims and objectives:

"Sports do not build character ... they reveal it"

A couple from the 'great one' Wayne Gretsky which I'm sure you'll have seen before but again reflect a mindset and game awareness we are looking for in our aspiring players:

"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take"

"A good hockey player plays where the puck is, a great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be"

And on a slight tangent when we prepare to play Holland (our toughest opposition) I always like to use this from Roald Dahl:

Great to see so many good quotes in one place - the quote wall in our office is now looking a bit busier! Another one to add into the mix - "it's easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn't." Martina Navratilova.

- God knows who said it, just something I have picked up at somepoint. I'll lay claim to it though if no-one else knows!!

There is also a great Twitter feed for this if you havent already seen it - @SportsMotto. Dip in there and you will find some good ones. One I like that I have just seen when I went to check the @address is:

"Everybody likes each other until things get tough. Then you will fid out what kind of team you have" - Doc Rivers

Also, something that people may enjoy is the app - Pocket Sports Quote - from the Positive Coaching Alliance.

Waht is brilliant about this one is that, it sits on your phone and links to your photos. It has a huge bank of inspirational quotes (in a similar vein to those placed here). So.....You take a photo of one of your players doing something great, and you can then put a quote over the top of it and share it. Hard to describe unless you have the app in front of you but I tihkn it is good fun. While I havent dont it myself, I think that it woudl work really well with younger players - especially youth level - if they saw their photo next to a quote.

I'm loving all these quotes. I keep a little black book, well it's blue actually, of inspirational quotes that I read during times of self doubt - just to help me swing bavk into the right frame of mine.

Anyway I couldn't comment on this post with out leaving a quote so here's my ten pence worth.

One for the coaches;

'Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader success is all about growing others'

He always used to end the session saying those words, with the squad repeating after him loud and proud. He ensured that he coached and mentored to those words, and I can now say they have left a lasting impression as I live by and coach by those words and values. It is important to coach character, morals and values as well as a sport.

Great to read through some of your responses and favourites ... thought I'd add another one from a slightly different angle to maybe spark some more thought. It comes from Danny Kerry (GB Women's Hockey Coach) who I interviewed to create two of our Coaching Bootroom videos. He talks about his level of self awareness particularly in relation to player or squad meetings and describes a 'mantra' that he uses to help his preparation and thinking:

"Where am I?"

"Where do I need to be?"

Then flipped to the player or players asking...

"Where are they?"

"Where do they need to be?"

To see the quote in context check out the video on the link below and watch from 10.50 ... but it's worth a watch of the whole thing!

You’re lucky when you’re young if you find someone that doesn’t talk down to you. That treats you seriously, as a serious person. If you want to be taken seriously, then take something seriously, don’t coast. Edward Norton

Professionals don’t stop practicing until they get it right; world champions don’t stop practicing until they can’t get it wrong.Adapted “Psychology for Musicians” by Percy C. Buck

It always matters how you win.

Two opposites don’t necessarily oppose.

Be at anytime able to sacrifice who you are for what you could become. Sugar Ray Leonard

Even if id hadn’t been a boxing champion, I’d have swept the streets as one. I was a world champion way before I’d ever become one. The Ali

Your enemy is only a perception, his job actually is to help you… find your weaknesses, and help you to train your mind to not get distracted by his strengths but adapt to them. Orson Scott Card

Coby Bryant was asked; “there are two types of athlete, Those that love winning and those that hate losing; which are you?

Thanks for posting all the fantastic quotes - definitely something for everyone there that'll help in most situations! As I coach young Rugby players, still very raw in their development, they are thankfully not TOO focused on whether they win or lose. Therefore my favourite recently heard quote was used on a Judy Murray tennis camp recently for young girls. (Please forgive me for paraphrasing)

A game has only two outcomes - you either win...or you learn.

A great way for younger players to understand that you can use the sense of failure/disappointment and gain from every session, game or challenge.

This is one from Frank Dick that I have on the inside page of my journal; A mistake only becomes a failure if we ignore it, don't learn from it and then repeat it. No one means to make one; no one needs to be a failure

“Dad tried to teach me and my brothers that you should never try to be better than someone else. I'm sure at the time he did that, I didn't -- it didn't -- well, somewhere, I guess in the hidden recesses of the mind, it popped out years later. Never try to be better than someone else, always learn from others. Never cease trying to be the best you can be -- that's under your control. If you get too engrossed and involved and concerned in regard to the things over which you have no control, it will adversely affect the things over which you have control. John Wooden